Greed
by CSIBeauty
Summary: Sequal to Sloth. It seems like every victim the team run's into is acting out of character and it worries Horatio that Jesse and Ryan are too. He races to find the cause before his CSI's end up like their victims.
1. Chapter 1

**Greed Chapter 1**

It was a bright and sunny day in Miami and Horatio found himself standing in front of another victim's house. A young man named Seth Cooper was killed early this morning. His house was a mess as if there was a big fight. It was good news for the team. When there is a big fight it is more likely that the killer left something behind. Though according to neighbors Seth was acting very strange the few days before his death. They said that they often heard him smashing stuff in his house and shouting. However, nobody ever went over to see what was going on. Most of them were afraid to. It appeared that Seth Cooper had developed a bad temper. It reminded Horatio of Byron Jenkins, a man who killed his friend for being too tired to hang out with him. Horatio was becoming more uneasy as the days went by. It appeared that some of the citizens of Miami who developing strange personality traits that often lead to someone's death. And nobody was in control of what was going on with them. Horatio was lost in his own thoughts when Walter walked up behind him.

"I don't like this, Horatio," he said simply.

"Neither do I," Horatio replied. "How is Jesse doing today?"

"He was sleeping at the table in the DNA lab when I walked in this morning," Walter stated. "Valera said she could barely get him to wake up enough to leave so she could finish her work from yesturday. I'm worried about him, Horatio."

"So am I," he replied. "But first thing we have to do today is try to find our victim's killer. And based on the crime scene that is not going to be an easy job. There is a lot of broken glass we are going to have to go through. We don't know what was destroyed when our vic was killed and what he did himself before his murder."

"There's something else, Horatio," said Walter.

Horatio looked up concerned. "What is it?"

"Ryan was acting pretty strange this morning too," Walter explained. "He kinda freaked out when I went to make some coffee, he said he would do it and to stay out of his way."

"What about everyone else?" Horatio asked. "Is anybody else acting out of character?"

"Not that I have noticed," Walter replied. "Just Jesse and Ryan."

"I am afraid that whatever is happening to our victim's is starting to happen to the rest of the team," Horatio stated. "Our first victim was acting just like Jesse is now and I'm not sure what is going on with Ryan, but I want to find out before this happens to anyone else."

"I think that's a good idea," said Walter.

"Lets get to collecting everything from the crime scene," said Horatio. "I already have Calleigh and Natalia working on it, but they are going to need some help."

"Alright," said Walter, heading into the house with Horatio behind him.

The house was a mess, it appeared that everything was broken. The couch and entertainment center looked as if it had been torn to peices. There were books laying everywhere with large peices of wood that appeared to come from a bookshelf. The table in front of the couch had been shattered leaving glass at every inch of the room. And that was only what the living room looked like. The kitchen and bedrooms were not much better.

"It looks as if this guy was trying to destory his own home," said Natalia. "I would find it hard to believe that all of this happend in a struggle."

"Well the neighbors said they heard him smashing stuff for the past few days, but with this mess it is likely that our killer left something behind," said Calleigh.

"It's going to take some serious work to find anything in this pile of rubble," Walter stated.

Horatio walked over to a painting on the wall. It appeared to have been moved and was still tilted to the side. He removed the painting to reveal a safe that had clearly been pryed open. He opened the safe to find a few hundrad dollar bills at the back.

"It appears that this was a robbery," said Horatio. "We have about two thousand dollars still here, but there is no way of knowing how much was originally in this safe."

"So maybe this killer had some real motive for killing our man," said Walter.

"Yes, but if this is anything like our other murders, out killer is going to be acting as strange as the victim," Calleigh stated.

"Thats true, and it is also likely that the robber is someone our vic knew," said Natalia. "So far that is consistant with the other murders."

"Yeah, but we are still going to have to go through all of this stuff if we want to find a suspect," said Walter. "And that could take a awhile."

"We will get some extra help," said Horatio. "I'm sure Valera wouldn't mind getting out of the DNA lab for a little while."

Horatio looked out of the window to see Ryan arguing with one of the officers about something. It was clear to everyone that he was worried about something. Calleigh walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright, Horatio?" she asked.

He turned to look at her and gave a faint smile. "I will be as soon as we find whoever is doing this."


	2. Chapter 2

**Greed Chapter 2**

As Calleigh, Natalia, and Walter collected the evidence from the house, Horatio headed outside to see for himself how strange Ryan was acting. Before Horatio even reached him, he could tell there was something very wrong. He didn't hear what the conversation was about, but Ryan seemed very upset about something.

"Whats going on, Mr. Wolfe?" Horatio asked as he approached. Ryan turned around and Horatio noticed his eyes seemed to have a bluish glow to them despite the fact that his eyes were brown.

"This guy is telling me to move the hummer," Ryan stated, simply.

"I'm sorry," said Horatio, confused. "I'm not sure I see how that would be a problem."

"I want to park here," said Ryan. "There is no reason why I should move. This is my spot."

"Are you feeling alright?" Horatio asked suddenly. The question seemed to take Ryan by surprise.

"Yes," Ryan replied. "Why? You want me to sit out during this case don't you? Well this is my case too and nobody is going to take it from me."

Ryan stormed off into the crime scene while Horatio watched him clearly worried. Frank walked up to Horatio noticing the look on his face.

"Whats wrong, Horatio?" Frank ask.

"I'm not sure yet," Horatio replied. "But I think Ryan and Jesse may be in trouble."

"What do you mean?"

"Our victims are not the only ones who are acting out of character," Horatio explained. "Jesse has been unusually tired lately, to the point that he is sleeping during the investigation. Just like our first victim who ended up sleeping on his couch because he was too tired to go up to his room."

"What's going on here, Horatio?" Frank asked, as his phone rang. He picked it up and looked at the message. "It looks like the police and Miami Dade National Bank picked up a guy trying to deposit 48 thousand dollars in cash. I wonder if that could be our vic's missing money."

"I would be willing to bet on it," said Horatio. "Lets meet him at the lab. Something tells me that he will be willing to admit that he killed our vic here, that is if he is anything like our past suspects."

"Yeah, but I still don't understand it, Horatio," said Frank. "Nobody admits to murder that easily. It's almost like someone is trying to make our job easier."

"Nobody ever tries to make our job easier," Horatio stated. "I think someone is trying to throw us off their trail. I believe someone is responsable for how our victims and subjects are acting and we are going to find them."

"How are we going to find them?"

"We follow the evidence, Frank. Sooner or later whoever is behind this is going to make a mistake and we will be there to find it."


	3. Chapter 3

**Greed Chapter 3**

Horatio and Frank headed back to the lab where they met their current suspect, Martin Filler. The man didn't look well. He appeared to have got into several fights, most likely recently. He had a black eye and a cut under his right eye, a broken left arm, and he looked as if he was in pain. Horatio entered the room and the man looked up at him.

"I didn't do it," he said immediatly.

"Mr. Filler, I haven't even asked you any questions yet," Horatio stated. "What is it that you didn't do?"

"I didn't kill, Seth," He explained. "I admit I took the money from his safe, but I'm not the one who killed him."

"So your saying you walked into your friends how when he was already dead and broke into his safe?" Frank asked.

"I didn't hear anything from inside," Martin stated. "I figured he wasn't home and I knew he had a large amount of money in his house. Seth never trusted banks. I just really needed the money."

"What for?" Horatio asked.

"I owe a lot of money," He replied, simply. "I don't know why, but when I went to Vegas about three weeks ago I decided to do a little gambling. I know that doesn't seem strange, but after the first game of poker it's like something came over me. For some reason all I could think about was money. I started gambling more. I played every game in that casino and I lost everything. So I found an underground poker game and played with them, but when I couldn't pay them back I got desperate. I've never been a man who cared about money before, but suddenly thats all that mattered. Two days ago one of them men from that game found me, he beat me until I thought I was going to die and he said that if I didn't pay back what I owed that he would kill my family. So I stole the money from Seth's safe. I know it was stupid and I accept responsablity for that, but I swear I didn't kill Seth. You have to believe me."

"I do Mr. Filler," Horatio stated. "You say that you started acting out of character for you?"

"Yes," Martin replied.

"Do you remember anything that happened right before you began to feel obsessed with money?" Horatio asked.

"Horatio," Frank started. "Do you think this has anything to do with what's going on with Jesse and Ryan?"

"I think it might," he answered.

"Um, I'm not sure I remember," Martin stated. "There was so much going on around me at the time. I seem to recall finding something strange and then blue light. I just thought it was some kind of light changing in the casino. Are you saying that I am not the only one who has experianced something like this?"

"You are not," said Horatio. "And if you are standing in front of me without those thoughts now, it means that perhaps these effects wear off."

"Am I in trouble for stealing that money?" Martin asked.

"You are," said Horatio. "But I'm going to see what I can do to help you Mr. Filler. We are going to keep you in holding for now. You will be safe there for right now."

He nodded as the officer in the room lead him out. Horatio watched as they took the man down to holding, just as Calleigh, Walter, Natalia, and Ryan came in with some of the evidence from their most recent murder. He walked out to meet them and Calleigh said something to Natalia and walked over to wear Horatio was standing.

"How did it go?" He asked.

"We got a lot of evidence to go through," Calleigh stated. "It's going to take a while, but I had to send Ryan out of the house because he was trying to convince us to let him take the left ovr money in the safe. He has been acting strange all day."

Horatio didn't say anything at first. He realized that the way Ryan was acting seemed similar to how Martin said he was acting. Calleigh looked at Horatio worried.

"What is it, Horatio?" Calleigh finally asked.

"We found the man who took our victims money," Horatio explained. "He is not acting strange, but he claims that recently he began to become obsessed with money and gambling. To the point where he got himself into some trouble."

"Do you think they are related?" Calleigh asked.

"Our suspect said that he remembers a flash of blue light just before he began feeling strange," Horatio explained. "I noticed something strange this morning. Ryan had almost a blue glow in his eyes."

"What does this mean, Horatio?" Calleigh asked. "And could this happen to the rest of us?"

"I don't know," Horatio said. "But we are going to find the source of this before they get to all of us."


End file.
